CHINA FETES MICRONESIAN POLICE CHIEFS, AS FSM DISQUIET

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLONIA 000188

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2018
TAGS: PREL PTER CH FM
SUBJECT: CHINA FETES MICRONESIAN POLICE CHIEFS, AS FSM DISQUIET
DEEPENS

CLASSIFIED BY: Miriam K. Hughes, Ambassador, Amembassy Kolonia,
State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary. The Chief Police of Pohnpei State in the
Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) described to Ambassador a
ten-day trip that China recently sponsored for the national
police chief and corresponding police chiefs from the four FSM
states, along with their wives. Each couple received an
envelope with USD $1,000 cash upon arrival in Nanjing, he said.
Regarding terrorism vulnerabilities in the FSM, the Pohnpei
chief said a growing influx of Philippines nationals into his
state was beyond the ability of the police to monitor and they
could conceivably include extremists. The Chief forecast
increasing political instability in the FSM based upon deepening
distrust between the state and national governments. Calls for
secession among Pohnpei State leaders were strengthening, he
said. End Summary.

FIRST-CLASS TRAVEL INCLUDES ENVELOPES


2. (C) Chief of Police of Pohnpei State Joe Robey (please
protect) invited Ambassador to a private lunch on December 22 to
share his personal misgivings about a trip the police chiefs
took to China December 2-12. For months, China's Ambassador Liu
Fei had heavily lobbied FSM National Police Chief Pius
Chotailug, he said. Chotailug had hinted to the corresponding
career chiefs in the four FSM states that they might be invited
on a good will trip to China. Finally, the chiefs received
three days notice to pack and to include their wives.


3. (C) Robey said the five chiefs and their spouses departed
on December 2 for Guam, where they spent two nights. They were
advised to bring ties and business suits, which few of them
owned. They then proceeded to Tokyo for transit on Air China to
Nanjing. Upon arrival, representatives of China's Foreign
Affairs Department met them and gave each couple an envelope
containing USD $1,000. These Foreign Affairs escorts, who were
fluent in English, remained with the group for a week as they
traveled by bus to two additional Chinese cities, whose names
Robey could not remember.


4. (C) "Everything was first class," Robey said, including
hotel rooms, receptions and lavish meals. While they met some
police officials, he said most time was dedicated to tourism and
shopping. Robey, who is a staunchly pro-American graduate of
the University of Guam and has served in the Pohnpei police
force more than 30 years, clearly had misgivings. "If any of us
had turned down the trip," he pleaded, "I believe we would have
faced reprisals from Chief Chotailug." Nevertheless, the trip
haunted him and he was thinking about writing an article for
Micronesia's sole newspaper. "I fear for the way China is
trying to influence us," he said. Robey added that he and FSM
Immigration Chief Mohner Esiel were monitoring a lucrative
Chinese prostitution operation based at Pohnpei port at the
China Star hotel. Prostitutes included more than a dozen
Chinese women who appeared to serve boatloads of Chinese
fishermen.

INFLUX OF OUTSIDERS AND CALLS FOR SECESSION


5. (C) Robey predicted that completion of a Japanese funded
project to extend Pohnpei's runway in 2010 would attract charter
flights from China that would bypass Guam and avoid the U.S.
visa requirement. In the meantime, he said more inhabitants of
the destitute FSM State of Chuuk were entering Pohnpei and
contributing to petty crime. Philippino workers were also
arriving in increasing numbers, and it was beyond the capacity
of Immigration and his 77-man police force to monitor their
credentials and activities. He said any Philippino could obtain
an immigration work permit, including those with possible
extremist intentions. Pohnpei's vulnerability to terrorism
would arise from this group, he posited.


6. (C) Robey shared other concerns about public order and
overall FSM stability. He described the intensification of
state anger in reaction to perceptions of a dysfunctional FSM
National Government (FSMNG),particularly among Pohnpei's
influential traditional leaders. Although these indigenous
chieftains lack formal authority, they exert a powerful
influence upon villages throughout the state, Pohnpei leaders,
and citizens' opinions, Robey said. He claimed Pohnpei Governor
John Ehsa was beholden to traditional leaders, who include the
Governor's influential Chief of Staff. When delegates are
elected to a Pohnpei constitutional convention in March 2009,
Robey said the delegates are likely to represent traditional
leaders, and they may make a formal push for secession from the
FSM. President Mori's apparent favoritism toward his home State

KOLONIA 00000188 002 OF 002


of Chuuk, including his appointment of a disproportionate number
of unqualified Chuukese to FSMNG bureaucratic positions in the
capital of Palikir, has contributed to the tension. He said
Pohnpeians are also fed up with the poor administration of
Compact grants by the FSMNG and a four-year delay in realization
of Compact infrastructure projects owing significantly to
mismanagement by Palikir.


7. (C) Ambassador reminded Robey that were Pohnpei to secede
from the federation, Pohnpei would forfeit all Compact funds,
U.S. defense protection, and its people's cherished U.S.
immigration privileges. Robey responded that Micronesians were
acutely aware of the price Pohnpeians would pay for autonomy,
but he could not predict what would happen.
HUGHES